Say what? users need to tick a consent form before you can use cookies?

[primefalcon]

It's true the EU have now Banned the use of cookies until the user agree's for them to be used

read about it here? http://www.out-law.com/page-10510

Don't these guys get it? you can only store info in cookies that you've got from other means anyhow, Cookies are a staple of memory over multiple pages? such as staying logged in.....

I guess we'll have to set our sessions to use $_GET only?

 

[alexandgruntz]

So every time they visit a website, they'd get about 3 confirmations.

Some advice to everyone in the EU: install Adblock Plus now.

 

[ah-blabla]

I use CookieMonster anyway, so I don't care about cookies too much. They are enabled on sites I know need them, the rest are ignored. What the EU should legislate is browsers being supplied with this by default. However the legislation might bring some good. Most sites nowadays just try to push cookies on you (waste of bandwidth, use of visitor disk space), so cookies for the sake of it should be made opt in. For logging in however, cookies should be allowed, used by default, and not be banned, That would be the one change I suggest: cookies should be allowed as soon as a user starts a log in, or shopping action in a shopping cart.

AdBlockPlus won't help in any way though, this is a legislative problem affecting website owners, and cookies, and not the blocking of ads.

//Edit:
BTW, there is this in the legislation:

"the user's consent to processing may be expressed by using the appropriate settings of a browser".

No change at all really: if the user enables cookies, then they signal that they have opted in for cookies. No problem whatsoever

 

[primefalcon]

Cookies however can only store information that the site has already gotten from other methods anyhow, and most sites use them as a session identifier only..... and cookies are a better way to do this than storing the user_id in the url bar......

Coolies themselves are in way or form a security threat, banning them is a show of ignorance of technology

 

[Smith6612]

Don't understand why they banned cookies. They don't do much besides of course, act as an identifier. One thing is for sure, the advertisers won't be too happy as they use cookies as part of targeted advertising. For the most part, cookies are just simple text files; a name, site address and a string in which identifies you. Cookie cleaners come with every browser, CCleaner, many Security centers and anti-spy programs, and cookies can be blocked easily from being placed on a PC.

So for anyone affected by this, might as well download Firefox and Adblock Plus for the meantime, or if you're running IE or any other browser, at the very minimum tell the browser to not accept cookies from 3rd parties (which is what everyone should use none the less).

And of course, as ah-blabla stated, if the user has cookies enabled in their browser, they've accepted cookies. Any user who at least knows how to use Google can figure out how to disable cookies in their browser. Even the IE users, they should be able to find the slider that blocks all cookies

 

[balaji2u]

is cookie that much big deal ? its would be frustrating for me to tick each time.

 

[adamparkzer]

It's true the EU have now Banned the use of cookies until the user agree's for them to be used

read about it here? http://www.out-law.com/page-10510

Don't these guys get it? you can only store info in cookies that you've got from other means anyhow, Cookies are a staple of memory over multiple pages? such as staying logged in.....

I guess we'll have to set our sessions to use $_GET only?

I'm in the United States, it doesn't really affect me.

I guess it's just going to be more annoying for the people who live in Europe.

I don't use any cookies on my website, so I'm basically entirely unaffected.

 

[Smith6612]

I do use cookies on my website. Of course, that is ONLY if you log into my site or you visit the forum. Of course, with the forum I can set it to use PHP Session ID strings, but that isn't as reliable and search friendly . Not to mention, I've had bad experiences with my database corrupting itself from PHP Session IDs.

 

[primefalcon]

I do use cookies on my website. Of course, that is ONLY if you log into my site or you visit the forum. Of course, with the forum I can set it to use PHP Session ID strings, but that isn't as reliable and search friendly . Not to mention, I've had bad experiences with my database corrupting itself from PHP Session IDs.

Lol php session ID's still set a cookie, unless of course your sticking the session ID into the url

 

[Smith6612]

Lol php session ID's still set a cookie, unless of course your sticking the session ID into the url

I meant it in terms of URLs. Sorry for not being so clear on that. All forum software I have come across has an alternate PHP Session ID mode should the browser not be accepting cookies or when first writing a cookie to the user's computer. With SMF, I know that I can set up the forum to either use cookies, or to disable cookie support and stick to the PHP session IDs in the URL.

 

[ah-blabla]

I guess it's just going to be more annoying for the people who live in Europe..

EU actually, not Europe. What I'm wondering is whether these laws apply to people who live in the EU and run a website, or to websites hosted in the EU. I could potentially be affected, since I am an EU citizen (British) but live outwith the EU most of the time. Since X10 is US hosted (I think) I shouldn't have a problem whatever I do, hopefully.

But, this is a good incentive for people designing sites to work without cookies, and javascript for that matter, unless the user is actually signing in, in which case the former is required. (I block both...) Cookies can be dangerous (cookie theft), which makes the case all the more stronger. Another argument is that by logging in a user gives their explicit consent to cookies.

 

[alexandgruntz]

AdBlockPlus won't help in any way though, this is a legislative problem affecting website owners, and cookies, and not the blocking of ads.

Ah, but ads often set cookies, and by blocking ads, you remove about 1-5 cookies from many websites, maybe more. ;

 

[ah-blabla]

Ah, but ads often set cookies, and by blocking ads, you remove about 1-5 cookies from many websites, maybe more. ;

The problem is the EU wants to ban the website owners from setting cookies...

The "browser having cookies enabled as explicit opt-in" method / loophole might not work in some countries: it is a rather similar concept to unprotected wireless networks which have SSID Broadcasting switched on: this is (in my opinion at least) akin to having a large sign on your front door saying come in, free entry, but people have still been taken to court over it (i.e. for accessing such networks). Cookies are a lot less serious a matter, but in some countries courts are rather ridiculous. It is general consensus in Europe that the US is a prime example of this, but even the UK can sometimes be bad in that respect, as in that example.